Alma is a short animation that seems cheery and delightful but soon changes to become very eery. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who is scared of dolls as this animation would definitely only make that worse. For this reason alone, the film is a success! However, there are many elements that make this short stand out to me and make it successful in my eyes.
The attention to lighting is very important to the overall atmosphere of the two spaces, the outside being light and free and the inside dark and oppressive as shown above. The music is instrumental in this too and is a happy accordion to begin but slows to a more creepy sounding accompaniment. The sound is all diagetic aside from this and there is no dialogue yet we can instantly tell each emotion of the child through her movement and expressions on her face.
The above shot is part of the drawn out sequence of Alma reaching out her hand for the creepy doll which keeps the viewer in suspense, wondering what will happen when she finally reaches and strengthening our empathy with Alma.
The shot below is a brilliant way of showing how Alma has been trapped without showing anything explicit such as being sucked into the doll or disappearing which leaves the mystery and intrigue of how she actually got inside the doll open. It also gives the perspective of the doll from the shelf and a feeling of claustrophobia and being trapped by the physical line around the edge of the vision. The next shots are of the dolls face and it is connoted that she is feeling trapped by the eye movement that the animators have done so well.
The piece ends with another doll appearing by the window and the viewer feels chilled to think that our protagonist hasn't escaped and this could happen to another child. After watching this short, I saw a comment on the video which suggested that Alma meant 'soul' in Spanish and another suggesting it meant 'Don't touch' in Kazakh. This consideration of the film-maker to choose a related name shows that each detail has been carefully considered and this is apparent in the mise-en-scene also.
Overall, this short animation is both clever and scary and manages to provoke a reaction from the viewer. I think this is down to great realisation and ability to create an atmosphere.
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